abatha's tongue piercing experience

to tell the truth, i'm not entirely certain. this piercing truly was
more of an impulse than the others. i simply felt an urge, and did it.
it still included deliberation and research, but not as much time as
any of my other piercings have.

it is also for aesthetics, of course, and just out of personal deisre,
no big reasons. more just impulse.

the experience...
that day...

at 2:45pm on thursday, april 1 of 1999, i walked up the hill to meet
my friend at the bus stop and proceeded to go downtown.

we got downtown and progressed up to the piercing place. for the first
time before any piercing i have ever had done, i had butterflies in my
stomach...i'm not so sure why. i was nervous. i think i stood outside
the place for ten minutes before actually going inside. when you enter
the place, i guess it's something about the air, but i was immediately
calm (i always get really calm when i go in there). the place smells
so great, not sterile, but very nice. we walked up to the counter, and
the same guy was there that has been there for every other time i've
come in the place. he actually recognized me, which is quite shocking
for a shop that probably sees a hundred people walk in and out of
their doors in a day. we got there at about 5:15, but he told us that
we wouldn't be able to be pierced until at least 6, so if we wanted to
catch the last bit of sunshine, come back in about 45 minutes...so we
did...we so we headed off, just wandering about and window shopping.
we got back there at about quarter to 6, and the place was full!!
there was only about 3 or 4 people in there only about 40 minutes ago,
and now there had to be over ten...sigh...oh well, audience
again...so, that guy had left, and another guy gave me the forms to
fill out, and i did. i swear, i must have stood there with the filled
out sheet infront of me for 15 minutes before someone actually came to
take it...i talked to the girl behind the counter, who showed me the
jewellery (sure, didn't look that big then...) and i chose which
barbell i wanted (when i have it downsized, i can have the balls
alternated, and wear all sorts of different ones on it...that's what i
wanted) and she made my reciept and i paid her, and then it was just
waiting...we waited for about an hour, while other people were filling
out their forms and going through the whole process (pretty good
timing for a shop that closes at 6, neh?)so, finally, we're ready to
go in...he leads us down the familiar little hallway and into a room,
where the piercees were asked to sit on the bench, and the friends
that were brought along scattered about the room...there were 6
piercees in the bunch: 3 tongues, 1 labret, and 2 nipples. his speech
was fairly long, about a half an hour. he read outloud some of what
was on our forms, and basically opened the group so we all kind of
knew who everyone was. he talked about each piercing individually, and
debunked some common rumours and falsities about each, and basically
told us what to do with our piercings, and what to expect. he told
about himself, that he's been piercing for 12 years now. he talked
more about sterilization, and why you shouldn't put a gun to your head
in the mall to have your ears pierced...he talked about how humans
have been piercing for over 4000 years, and rumours only developed
when piercing has moved to the "western world"...he said if there was
any major problems associated with piercing, the ancient civilizations
would never have really done it...he talked about why he chose to do
piercings in a group, one, because it saves him saying the speech 6
different times for each person, and for two, piercing has always been
somewhat of a bonding type thing, done by tribes, and he went on to
say that this, the six of us, was now a tribe for the next half an
hour. he also mentioned about that one question that is so commonly
asked: did that hurt. he said that after hearing it about 6 times, it
will hurt to answer that question more than it hurt to actually have
it done, and if anyone asks, just tell them where the shop is, and to
go find out for themselves.

so, anyways, when he was done talking, he said he'd do the tongues
first, since there was three of us...another girl went first, and he
did her, and then the guy went...both proceedures i watched, though i
tried not to...then it was my turn...

so, i hop up on to the chair (which mostly resembled a dentists
chair), sideways, and he put the arm down on my lap...felt like
a roller coaster. next came the dentist bib to collect any drool that
happened to fall (proud to say i didn't drool, nor did i bleed...). he
filled a little cup with listerine, saying "looks like you must go
through a bottle a week...must be used to the taste by now..." (of my
labret)and so i rinsed with it for 30 seconds...then i got to spit it
out and he placed a bottle of aromatherapy (lavender) under my nose,
and then another (ylang-ylang) to calm me down and to release my
endorphines. he wrapped a rubber band around the clamps to hold them
securely, and then told me to stick out my tongue into the clamps,
which i did, and he looked at both the bottom and the top (i was
afraid he'd tell me that my tongue was unpiercable, but he didn't) and
said "no problem". he repeated the counting thing (that he'll count to
four, and the needle will go through on four) so i listen...breathe in
on one, out on two, in on three, out on fou...shit, that kind of
hurt! it was more of a pressure and a pinch...lasted less than five
seconds, and that was it...the barbell pushed the needle out,
and bang, bottom ball was on, and i was up, handed my aftercare guide
and a few stickers, and i was out the door...we walked back down to
the bus station, called my mom (who was really rational) and caught
the bus home...

that evening...

my mom picked me up at the bus station at about 8:20. i thought she
was really cool about this one, not like my labret. she just figured,
she'd rather not see me do it, but she knows it's better than me
getting a tattoo, or getting pregnant or something. she rationalizes
it that way...she doesn't want any more piercings now (i'm having my
septum done later on, and i told her i was having something done in a
couple years) and i think i'm going to leave it at ear piercings, if
that...but we'll see...

i ate ice the entire bus ride home (went to taco time, who,
appearantly, was quite used to piercees coming up and asking for ice,
though when we asked the lady behind the counter looked at us like we
were mad...), and by the time i was ready to go to bed, my tongue was
already nicely swollen. could have been worse though. and at least i'd
know what to expect the next morning...i expected a sore mouth, and i
got exactly that.

the next day...

i woke up the next morning, my tongue aching, and not much more
swollen than it was the night before. the aching went away when i got
up and mobile. i was actually surprised that it really didn't hinder
anything i would normally do. i talked a little funny, took longer to
eat, but i could, and that's all that matters. i ate mostly muchy
things on the first day, like spagetti in a can (which happens to be
one of my favorites anyways) and pudding. sucked on a lot of ice and
took aspirin (which is horrible for you, but good for the swelling and
any pain). i didn't really much bother with cold things. i stopped
eating ice by noon, and didn't really have any problems with the
swelling. it was going okay...could be worse.

the second day...

felt better waking up, not as achy, still just as swollen however. no
cold things at all, still aspirin, and it seems to be working
fine. still talking funny, still taking a long time to eat. i made an
attempt at solid food today, and had pasta and stuff for dinner.
worked out okay. just took a while to eat.

the third day...

i thought for sure the swelling would start to go down a bit today
(i'm a fast healer), but, alas, it did not. i'm learning to cope
with the swelling though, talking a bit better. eating is not a
problem anymore, regular food, just really slow. bit the barbell
today...gotta be careful. it hurt.

the fourth day...

quite exciting, the swelling is finally going down. i can see about
1/6 of the barbell now, and by bed it was 1/5. talking more and more
normally by the day. my dad has been taking the opertunity to make fun
of my temporary speech impediment. it is funny though.

still eating fine. everything is feeling like normal.

the fifth, sixth, and seventh days...

well, the swelling has all gone down, and my speech is fully normal
again (besides a bit of trouble with my S's). healing looks perfect,
but due to the mouthwash i have developed a mild case of thrush (which
is going away now, at 8 to 12 days), and i have further diluted my
mouthwash, and a oval shaped ring of distinctly different color has
appeared around the top barbell (which i'm pretty sure is just because
of stress of the surrounding skin because the barbell probably wasn't
long enough during the swelling. it is receeding now too, so no
worries).

otherwise the healing is going great. there is no pain, no aching in
the mornings, no swelling. it's pretty much just my tongue again, but
with a pretty new adornment.

the eighth, nineth, tenth, and eleventh days...

no problems. thrush got a bit worse, so i diluted the mouthwash even
more, and it now is almost completely gone. (tip: if you develope
thrush, i read somewhere that brushing your tongue helps...i don't
know how true this is, but it seemed to work for me). the oval ring
around the top ball is settling down nicely and almost looking normal
again.

there is no more swelling, and i have absolutely no problems eating or
talking. it doesn't even take me so long to eat anymore, just have to
be a bit more conscious of what i'm doing, so as not to bite the
barbell, which has happened a couple of times. S's are still not that
good, but better. i can't whistle though...i couldn't really before,
but i sure as hell can't now!

today, the twelfth day...

that's really pretty much it. i go in in about a week and a half (so
three weeks after) to have it downsized. the post i have in right now
actually doesn't seem that long, but i'm gonna get something nice and
snug...not too snug though. smiles
everything has gone really smoothly, and i'm very happy with it.

final words...

to anyone considering this piercing: do it! this is a very good
piercing. it's lots of fun.

this is also a really great piercing for people who are new to body
piercing (i know...) because it doesn't hurt that much, it's very
personal (in the way that only you really have to know it's there),
and it's hide-able.

anyways, this is a good piercing. not only is it very discreet and
job-friendly, but it's fun! it's a great experience to have.
so for anyone considering it, i say go for it!

Details

submitted by: Anonymouson: 01 May 1999in
Tongue Piercing

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